YOUR PROBLEMS SOLVED
Dear Mary.. .
Q. I work for Sotheby's, and often meet friends for lunch in London during the week. When the bill comes, there is the usual tussle over who will take whom out. Often I am happy to pay, indeed want to take the other person out, but find the Pleasure of giving is thwarted by hearing Illy guest say, 'Actually, I will let you pay because you'll get it back from Sotheby's.' The fact is that I will not get a personal lunch 'back from Sotheby's', so how can I let friends know that it is my own largesse which is at play?
A. You could chuckle good-naturedly and shake your head with a grin while com- menting, 'Alas, if only — I'm afraid you'd need at least two Rembrandts and the prospect of heavy death duties before Sotheby's would pay for our lunch! No, You're my friend and it's my treat.'
Q. Every morning, whilst walking our three- Year-old daughter to school, we encounter a lollipop man, stationed upon his zebra cross- ing, who refuses to acknowledge my daugh- ter's attempts to greet him. She has tried a number of stratagems to melt his heart, including thanking him effusively, waving, and smiling angelically, both from the ground or at his eye-level in our arms. She is Name withheld, W11 becoming hopelessly despondent. How can we prevent him from snubbing her?
P.F., London W8 A. Lollipop men of today can no longer enjoy the traditional joys of chatting and smiling with their cherub-faced charges for fear of being reported by abuse watchdogs. You, however, can approach the man on your way to collect your child from school and assure him that you have told her it is all right to smile and talk to nice men when she is accompanied by one of her parents. `Do please respond,' you can say, 'because she's planning to give you a little Christmas present.'
Q. I have recently got married and am sorry to say that a large percentage of the enor- mous number of presents we were lucky enough to receive from family friends were
fairly hideous. Some of these gifts were clear- ly very expensive, yet I cannot exchange them for anything else as they were mostly bought in shops where all the goods would be in bad taste, and, anyway, I rarely visit the part of the country where I was brought up and where most of the presents were bought. What should I do with them?
Name withheld, London W12 A. Why not pop along to the Golborne Road on any Friday or Saturday morning? As long as you arrive before 6 a.m. you may set up a stall free of charge, from which you can sell your wedding presents to members of the public who share the bad taste of your family friends.
Q. This is a shopping query. What can I give as a present to an expectant mother who is as rich as Croesus and already has four of everything? I would give nothing, but, as she is American, one of her friends has organised a 'baby shower' party S.M., Tisbury A. Why not give her a 'Helping Hand', at £9.19, from 0623 757955? These gripping agents on the end of metal sticks are invalu- able aids to women in the later stages of preg- nancy whose condition renders them inca- pable of picking anything up from the floor.
Previous page
